Since joining university, I’ve been thrown into the notion that Trent are the enemy and they’re significantly inferior to us. This has come in a variety of flavours: from the infamous chants (T-R-E-N-T you’re gonna get a s**t degree being one of my personal favourites) to the varsity events (this also includes the bar crawls).
But where does this all come from? It would be too difficult to pinpoint an exact point in the history of the two universities where a hatred for each other developed, however, if you take a look at other parts of the country, you can see that there’s a host of similar relationships: Northumbria and Newcastle, De Montfort and Leicester, Man Met and Manchester, just to name a few. The question is, is this ‘friendly’ opposition a positive thing?
The separation of many of the club nights is a huge talking point and of course, there are clear signs as to why the nights are split, one of the most likely reasons being the issue of logistics as, when you combine the universities, there’s simply too many students to promote joint nights. Tickets would be hell to get for many nights if they were joint and a lot of events/venues would suffer as a result (with both sets of students choosing to head to the most popular ones). A sense of identity within your university is also given through this slight separation and this university togetherness can actually help those who feel out of their depth to settle in; and ultimately, there is a difference in cultures in terms of the courses available at each uni, which could be considered an obstacle on a drunken night out.
Despite our differences, I feel that it would be beneficial for the two different ‘cultures’ to mix as the development of such an opposition does cause potential for aggressive altercations amongst those who become intoxicated on nights out and end up bumping into the ‘enemy’ on their way to the next club or bar. I know from being on many Trent nights that the people generally seem a lot more welcoming and friendly (I’ve met many rude Uni Of students) and I know for a fact that the Trent SU night on a Saturday is one of the best nights I’ve ever had in Nottingham.
Overall the current system works smoothly, with no barriers stopping people from attending each other’s nights and a friendly rivalry is always healthy now and again; however it would be nice if more joint events started to creep into the clubbing calendar, allowing a greater mix of different types of people.
Edited by Georgina Varley
Image source:
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1821416/thumbs/o-VARSITY-570.jpg?1